CLEM. Well, well. We'll see. [_Continues reading._] Badegast fifteen to one--
MARG. Badegast? There isn't a ghost of a show for him!
CLEM. Where did you get that information?
MARG. Oh, this morning in the Fredenau, while you were talking with Milner.
CLEM. Now, look here; Szigrati isn't fit company for you.
CLEM. Not at all. Moreover, let it be understood that from now on I shall introduce you everywhere as my fiancée. [_Margaret kisses him._]
MARG. That he's not going to enter Badegast in the Handicap at all.
CLEM. Well, don't you believe everything Szigrati is likely to say. He's circulating the rumor that Badegast will not be entered so that the odds may be bigger.
MARG. Nonsense! That's too much like an investment.
CLEM. So you don't believe there is such a thing as investment in this game? For a great many it's all a commercial enterprise. Do you think that a fellow of Szigrati's ilk cares a fig for sport? He might just as well speculate on the market, and wouldn't realize the difference. Anyway, as far as Badegast is concerned, one hundred to one wouldn't be too much to put up against him.
MARG. Really? I found him in first-rate fettle this morning.
MARG. Certainly. Didn't Butters put him through his paces, right behind Busserl?
CLEM. But Butters isn't riding for Szigrati. He was only a stableboy. Badegast can be in as fine fettle as he chooses--it's all the same to me. He's nothing but a blind. Some day, Margaret, with the aid of your exceptional talent, you will be able to distinguish the veritable somebodies from the shams. Really, it's remarkable with what proficiency you have, so to speak, insinuated yourself into all these things. You go beyond my expectations.
MARG. [_chagrined_]. Pray, why do I go beyond your expectations? All this, as you know, is not so new to me. At our house we entertained very good people--Count Libowski and people of that sort--and at my husband's--
CLEM. Quite so. No question about that. As a matter of principle, you realize, I've no grudge against the cotton industry.
MARG. Even if my husband happened to be the owner of a cotton mill, that didn't have to effect my personal outlook on life, did it? I always sought culture in my own way. Now, don't let's talk of that period of my life. It's dead and buried, thank heaven!